Discussion
Patients with degenerative scoliosis frequently present with
radicular leg pain due to deformity-related segmental foraminal
stenosis on the concave side of the curve [1,2]. These patients are
usually treated with instrumented fusion aiming at decompression of
the nerve root by enlargement of the neuroforamen and correction of
the scoliosis. However, surgical treatment of degenerative scoliosis with multilevel pedicle screw fixation may be associated with complications
like excessive blood loss, malposition of screws, or neurological deficit,
which could be prevented by treating patients with less invasive surgery.
In the present study, we found that instrumented fusion with bilateral
pedicle screw fixation and interbody fusion may not always be necessary
to achieve improvement of symptoms.